Standards to foster innovative sustainable sanitation technologies

A targeted new standard for safe and sustainable sanitation technologies will help to improve the situation in developing countries. TÜV SÜD presents milestones in establishing such a standard on 10 July 2016 at the seminar “Reinventing the sanitation utility service to achieve the SDG Goals” in Singapore. The seminar is organised by the South African Water Research Com­mission and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Over one-third of the world’s population do not have access to functioning sanitation – a lack that impacts drastically on the overall social and economic development of the countries involved, while also presenting a significant environmental challenge. Five years ago, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the global Reinvent the Toilet Challenge (RTTC), which invited engineers and investors to identify safe and sustainable solutions that work without sewers, electricity, or running water. TÜV SÜD has received a grant from the foundation to develop a standard for such point of use reuse sanitation technologies.

“Previous decentralized solutions have often proved to be unsafe, unsustainable or too expensive”, says Dr Andreas Hauser, Director of TÜV SÜD Water Services. According to Dr Hauser one cause of this failure is the lack of recognised standards or best practices that ensure that products are technically mature, safe for users and compliant with environmental regulations. Recognised standards would serve different stakeholder groups by providing a common, transparent basis that promotes both technology development by manufacturers and commercial adoption by governments, development agencies and operators. Several speakers will address sanitation value chain aspects at the seminar in Singapore, where Dr Hauser will report about the procedure of establishing a new ISO standard to promote sanitation sustainable innovation service delivery and innovative technologies and the current stand of this process.

With interdisciplinary expertise and international experience, TÜV SÜD Water Services is making a major contribution towards introducing safe, reliable new technologies and innovative solutions in the sanitation sector. The services provided by the experts in the area of sanitation span support for governments, non-governmental organizations, investors in sanitation projects, technology developers and manufacturers as well as sanitation services providers.

Reinventing the Sanitation Utility Service to Achieve the SDG Goals

The Seminar is free and will take place at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore on 10 July 2016 from 2:00 – 5:15 p.m. For further details please email jayb@wrc.org.za. You do not have to be registered for the SIWW to attend. Convenors: The South African Water Research Commission and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

TÜV SÜD at Singapore International Water week

TÜV SÜD Water Services presents its comprehensive services as independent technology, process and business advisor for water technologies at Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) from 10 to 14 July 2016. At SIWW the experts of TÜV SÜD Water Services will focus on water efficiency for industries, desalination plant optimization, verification of innovative technology and the digitalization of water infrastructure (Level 1, Hall A – C, Booth L1-Q12). More information at http://www.tuv-sud.com/water.